1899 in music

Specific locations

• 1899 in Norwegian music

Events

• January 25 – Adelina Patti marries her third husband, Baron Rolf Cederström.
• March 3 – Richard Strauss conducts the premiere of Ein Heldenleben with the Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester.
• April 26
• *Jean Sibelius conducts the world première of his Symphony No. 1 in Helsinki.
• *Tenor Antonio Paoli makes his début in Rossini's William Tell in Paris.
• May 27 – Maurice Ravel conducts the first public performance of his 1898 Shéhérazade, ouverture de féerie at a concert of the Société Nationale de Musique in Paris; it receives a critical reception and is not published in his lifetime.
• June 19 – Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations are premiered at St James's Hall in London conducted by Hans Richter. A revised version is first heard on September 13 at the Three Choirs Festival in Worcester Cathedral with Elgar conducting.
• September 18 – Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag is registered for copyright as ragtime music enjoys mainstream popularity in the United States.
• October 19 – Claude Debussy marries Rosalie Texier, having lived for nine years with her best friend; the marriage lasts only five years.
• December 30 – Samuel Coleridge-Taylor marries Jessie Walmisley.
• date unknown
• *Charles Hale's song "At a Darktown Cakewalk" includes an early appearance of the riff "Shave and a Haircut".
• *Billy Murray makes his singing debut.

Published popular music

• "Absent" w. Catherine Young Glen m. John W. Metcalf
• "Always!" w. Charles Horwitz m. Frederick V. Bowers
• "Cake Walk in The Sky" by Ben Harney
• "Come Home Dewey We Won't Do a Thing to You" w.m. Paul Dresser
• "A Coon Band Contest" m. Arthur Pryor
• "Cotton Pickers Rag & Cakewalk" by William Braun
• "Doan Ye Cry, Mah Honey" w.m. Alfred W. Noll
• "Hands Across the Sea" m. John Philip Sousa
• "Hearts and Flowers" w. Mary D. Brine m. Theodore Moses Tobani
• "Hello! Ma Baby" w.m. Ida Emerson & Joseph E. Howard
• "I'd Leave My Happy Home for You" w. Will A. Heelan m. Harry Von Tilzer
• "If Only You Were Mine" w. Harry B. Smith m. Victor Herbert
• "I'll Be Your Sweetheart" w.m. Harry Dacre
• "Impecunious Davis" by Kerry Mills
• "Keep on the Sunny Side", w. A. Blenkhorn, m. J.H. Entwisle
• "Mandy Lee" w.m. Thurland Chattaway
• "Maple Leaf Rag" by Scott Joplin
• "Mosquito Parade" m. Howard Whitney
• "My Little Georgia Rose" w. Robert F. Roden m. Max S. Witt
• "My Wild Irish Rose" w.m. Chauncey Olcott
• "'O sole mio!" w. Giovanni Capurro m. Eduardo di Capua
• "A Picture No Artist Can Paint" w.m. J. Fred Helf
• "She Was Happy Till She Met You" w. Charles Graham m. Monroe H. Rosenfeld
• "Smoky Mokes" m. Abe Holzmann
• "Stay in Your Own Back Yard" w. Karl Kennett m. Lyn Udall
• "The Story of the Rose" w. "Alice" m. Andrew Mack
• "Telephone Me, Baby" w.m. George M. Cohan
• "There's Where My Heart Is Tonight" w.m. Paul Dresser
• "When most I wink" m. Frank Bridge
• "Where the Sweet Magnolias Grow" w. Andrew B. Sterling m. Harry Von Tilzer
• "Whistling Rufus" w. W. Murdock Lind m. Kerry Mills
• "You Tell Me Your Dream, I'll Tell You Mine" w. Seymore Rice & Albert H. Brown, m. Charles N. Daniels

Recorded popular music

• "Abide With Me"

• "Always!"

• "Asleep In The Deep"

• "Ave Maria"

• "Because"

• "Believe Me, if All Those Endearing Young Charms"

• "The Boy Guessed Right"

• "The Cake Walk"

• "Calvary"

• "Comin' Thro' The Rye"

• "Cotton Blossoms"

• "Curse of the Dreamer"

• "Down The Road"

• "Eli Green's Cakewalk"

• "Emmet's Lullaby"

• "Funiculi-Funicula"

• "The Future Mrs 'Awkins"

• "God Save The Queen"

• "Gypsy Love Song"

• "Hands Across The Sea March"

• "Hearts And Flowers"

• "Hello! Ma Baby"

• "The Holy City"

• "Home Sweet Home"

• "I Dreamt I Dwelt In Marble Halls"

• "I Guess I'll Have To Telegraph My Baby"

• "I'd Leave My Happy Home For You"

• "If It Wasn't For The 'Ouses In Between"

• "If Only You Were Mine"

• "It's A Great Big Shame"

• "Jack's The Boy"

• "Just As The Sun Went Down"

• "Just One Girl"

• "Kathleen Mavourneen"

• "Kiss Me, Honey Do"

• "Little Dolly Daydream"

• "Little Old New York is Good Enough For Me"

• "The Lost Chord"

• "Mandy Lee"

• "'Mid The Green Fields Of Virginia"

• "Mister Johnson, Turn Me Loose"

• "Molly's The Girl For Me"

• "The Moth And The Flame"

• "My Little Georgia Rose"

• "My Old Dutch"

• "My Old New Hampshire Home"

• "My Wild Irish Rose"

• "Night Hymn At Sea"

• "The Old Brigade"

• "Old Man's Story"

• "The Old Oaken Bucket"

• "The Organ Grinder's Serenade"

• "A Picture No Artist Can Paint"

• "She Is The Belle Of New York"

• "She Was Bred In Old Kentucky"

• "She Was Happy Till She Met You"

• "Smoky Mokes"

• "The Soldiers Of The Queen"

• "Sweet Rosie O'Grady"

• "Take A Pair Of Sparkling Eyes"

• "'Tis The Last Rose Of Summer"

• "Toreador Song"

• "Whistling Rufus"

• "Yes, Let Me Like A Soldier Fall"

• "You've Been A Good Old Wagon"

Classical music

• Hugo Alfvén – Symphony No. 2 in D
• Tor Aulin – 4 Aquarellen for Violin and Piano, Op. 12 or 15
• Amy Beach – Piano Concerto in C minor, Op. 45
• Joseph Callaerts – Toccata, Op.29
• Frederick Delius – Paris, Nocturne
• Friedrich Diethe – Romanze for Bass Clarinet
• Ernő von Dohnányi – Sonata for Cello and Piano in B minor
• Edward Elgar
• *Variations on an Original Theme (Enigma), Op. 36
• *Dry Those Fair, Those Crystal Eyes
• *Sérénade lyrique, for orchestra
• George Enescu – Violin Sonata No. 2 in F minor, Op. 6
• Axel Gade – Concerto No. 2 for violin and orchestra in F major
• Louis Glass – Symphony No. 2 in C minor
• Reinhold Glière – Symphony No. 1
• Leopold Godowsky – 3 Concert Studies, Op.11
• Theodore Gouvy – Paraphrases symphoniques, Op.89
• Edvard Grieg – Ave maris stella, EG 150
• Johan Halvorsen – Norwegian Festival Overture
• Siegmund von Hausegger – Barbarossa
• Hans Huber – Concerto No. 3 for piano and orchestra
• Scott Joplin – Maple Leaf Rag
• Ferdinand Kühne – Geburstags-Marsch, Op.41
• Max Laurischkus
• *Elegie, Op.2
• *Duos, Op.3
• Luise Adolpha Le Beau – Elegy, Op.44
• Ernst Mielck – Finnish Suite, Op. 10
• Ethelbert Nevin – En Passant, Op.30
• Maurice Ravel – Pavane pour une Infante défunte, for piano
• Vladimir Rebikov
• *3 Morceaux, Op.7
• *Suite de ballet, Op.14
• Jean Sibelius – Symphony No. 1 in E minor
• Josef Suk – Symphony No. 1 in E major
• Arnold Schoenberg – ''Verklärte Nacht''

[Opera]

• Eugen d'Albert – Kain
• Antonín Dvořák – The Devil and Kate
• Josef Bohuslav Foerster – Eva
• Victor Herbert – The Ameer, premiered October 10 in Scranton
• Isidore de Lara – Messaline
• Jules Massenet – Cendrillon
• Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov – The Tsar's Bride,
• Max von Schillings – Der Pfeifertag, Op.10

[Musical theater]

• The Rose of Persia London production opened at the Savoy Theatre on November 29San Toy London production opened at Daly's Theatre on October 21

Births

• January 7
• *Al Bowlly, South African-born British singer
• *Francis Poulenc, French composer
• January 14 – Herbert Sumsion, English composer and organist
• January 21 – Alexander Tcherepnin, Russian pianist and composer
• February 15 – Georges Auric, French composer
• February 21 – Clara Clairbert, Belgian operatic soprano
• March 5 – Patrick Hadley, British composer
• March 10 – Finn Høffding, Danish composer
• March 13 – Pancho Vladigerov, Bulgarian composer
• March 26 – William Baines, English composer and pianist
• April 5
• *Leonard Falcone, Italian-born American baritone/euphonium virtuoso, director of bands at Michigan State
• *Bernhard Kaun, American Hollywood filmscore composer
• April 7 – Robert Casadesus, French pianist and composer
• April 29 – Duke Ellington, American jazz musician and composer
• May 1 – Jón Leifs, Icelandic composer
• May 6 – Billy Cotton, English bandleader
• May 10 – Fred Astaire, American dancer, actor and singer
• May 25 – Panka Pelishek, Bulgarian pianist and music teacher
• May 30 – Jack Little, British-born American singer and songwriter
• June 1 – Werner Janssen, American conductor and composer
• June 9 – Signe Amundsen, Norwegian operatic soprano
• June 11 – George Frederick McKay, American composer
• June 13 – Carlos Chávez, Mexican composer and conductor
• June 16 – Helen Traubel, American opera singer
• June 19 – Pat Ballard, American songwriter
• June 21 – Pavel Haas, Czech composer
• June 30 – Harry Shields, American jazz musician
• July 1 – Thomas A. Dorsey, American "father of gospel music"
• July 3 – Benny Nawahi, American ukulele player
• July 10 – André Souris, Belgian composer and writer
• July 17 – James Cagney, American actor, singer and dancer
• July 18 – Felipe Pinglo Alva, Peruvian composer
• July 30 – John Woods Duke, American composer
• August 6 – Margarete Klose, operatic mezzo-soprano
• September 6 – Billy Rose, Broadway producer and lyricist
• September 9 – Maria Yudina, pianist
• September 11 – Jimmie Davis, country and gospel singer-songwriter and politician
• September 13 – Ephraim Amu, composer, musicologist and music teacher
• September 25 – Ricard Lamote de Grignon, conductor and composer
• September 26 – William L. Dawson, composer
• October 9 – Mary Jarred, opera singer
• October 19 – Sidonie Goossens, harpist
• October 31 – Ted Shapiro, songwriter and pianist
• November 9 – Mezz Mezzrow, jazz musician
• November 17 – Toscha Seidel, violinist
• November 18 – Eugene Ormandy, violinist and conductor
• November 22 – Hoagy Carmichael, composer, pianist and singer
• November 29 – Gustave Reese, musicologist
• November 30 – Hans Krása, Czech-German composer
• December 2 – Sir John Barbirolli, conductor
• December 11 – Julio de Caro, composer
• December 16 – Noël Coward, dramatist, actor, singer and composer
• December 18 – Muriel Brunskill, operatic contralto
• December 21 – Silvestre Revueltas, composer
• date unknown – Sadettin Heper, composer

Deaths

• January 10 – Albert Becker, composer, 64
• February 3 – Amalie Joachim, contralto and voice teacher
• February 4 – Eduard Holst, Danish composer, playwright, actor, dancer and dance master, 52
• April 17 – Hans Balatka, composer, 72
• April 23 – Lucien Delormel, lyricist
• May 21 – Louise Tunison, composer and organist, 26
• May 29 – Frantz Jehin-Prume, violinist, composer, and music educator, 60
• June 3 – Johann Strauss II, composer, 73
• June 10 – Ernest Chausson, composer, 44
• June 16 – August Winding, composer, 64
• August 17 – Erik Bøgh, journalist, dramatist and songwriter, 77
• August 28 – Guillermo Morphy, musicologist, 63
• October 10 – Allan James Foley, operatic bass, 62
• October 11 – John Troutbeck, musicologist
• October 13 – Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, organ-builder, 88
• October 15 – Johann Nepomuk Fuchs, conductor and composer, 57
• October 18 – Gussie Davis, songwriter, 36
• October 22 – Ernst Mielck, composer, 21
• October 23 – Ludwig Straus, violinist, 64
• October 31 – Hugh Talbot, singer and actor, 54
• November 16 – Vincas Kudirka, lyricist of the Lithuanian national anthem, 40
• November 25 – Robert Lowry, hymn writer, 73
• December 7 – Anton de Kontski, pianist and composer, 82
• December 10 – Hans von Milde, operatic baritone, 78
• December 20 – Romain Bussine, poet, baritone, and voice teacher, 69
• December 21
• *Joseph Dupont, violinist, theatre director and conductor, 61
• *Charles Lamoureux, conductor and violinist, 65
• December 23 – Marietta Piccolomini, operatic soprano, 65
• December 31 – Carl Millöcker, conductor and composer, 57